


Warren’s Request

by tshmarie



Series: Changes [1]
Category: Mercy Thompson Series - Patricia Briggs
Genre: (probably), Canon Gay Relationship, Established Relationship, M/M, Mates, Post-Canon, Werewolf Mates, Werewolves, fluff with a plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23718361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tshmarie/pseuds/tshmarie
Summary: The realization hit me early one morning as I crawled into bed.Mine.I wrapped my arms protectively around my mate and kissed his hair, suddenly drowning in a new understanding.Would it ruin everything if I asked?——Warren doesn’t want to lose Kyle. Ever.
Relationships: Kyle Brooks/Warren Smith
Series: Changes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718647
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

The realization hit me early one morning as I crawled into bed. The full moon had been magnificent; the run, the hunt, being with my pack ... it was all so new still, even after a few years. And here was my mate, his fancy suit replaced with sweats, his hair tousled from sleep, still just as beautiful as he always was (‘cept maybe when he’s naked, but that’s a different matter). Clever, protective, dangerous in his own way, so like a wolf.

_ Mine _ .

As though he heard my wolf’s claim, Kyle shifted closer in his sleep. He mumbled something and wrapped an arm around me, still asleep. Part of me wanted to wake him, to share the wonders of the night with him, but he was exhausted. Down the hall there was a mother and her two young children, all three carrying invisible wounds we couldn’t prove and terrified of a man who seemed harmless. I had already started looking for dirt on him. It was one of those times the law wouldn’t find anything, and Kyle would have to find a way around it. His clients, especially the battered ones, were  _ his _ in a very pack-like sense, and he protected him just as fiercely as any wolf. It was one of the things I loved most about him.

_ Mine _ .

I wrapped my arms protectively around my mate and kissed his hair, suddenly drowning in a new understanding.

* * *

That realization haunted me for days after. My wolf was certain. I knew how I felt. But what would happen if I said something? Would it ruin everything if I asked?

* * *

Kyle sighed. “Alright, what’s wrong?”

I was on my back in the middle of our bed, my shirt gone and my mate above me. I thought about saying I was fine, that there was nothing wrong, but ...

“What gave me away?”

“I am still dressed. And have not yet been flipped under you. We’ve been together long enough I can tell when something’s bothering you.” He ran his fingers through my hair. “What is it, baby?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but the words stuck. “Let me up.”

He rolled off me and sat, watching as I sat up and collected myself. The faint taste of fear seeped out of him.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He took my hand and waited.

“I barely remember what it was like being human...”

I had told him before about my change, bits and pieces, avoiding the details that still hurt, that I couldn’t admit still terrified me. This time, I told him about being alone. I told him about the pain and fear of the change. I told him about my first pack, how they claimed me until they realized I was attracted to their second and then tried to kill me. I told him about running, about trying again with the same results, about hiding, about giving up. I told him about hating myself and trying to change that part of me so few people could accept, and the slow journey to accepting myself even if I had to hide. I told him how Mercy was a miracle, how Adam’s acceptance and then friendship was the best thing to ever happen to me.

“And then I met you.” My voice was thick by this point, but I wouldn’t let myself cry. “You forgave me, and accepted me, and ... let me claim you.”

He squeezed my hand. He’d done that a few times throughout my story, but didn’t try to speak, letting me get it all out. He’s a patient man, my Kyle.

“I realized the other day that ... I can’t lose you. Even with Mercy and Adam and a pack. I ... can’t.” I looked at him, willing him to understand.

“I’m not going anywhere, baby.”

“Not by choice, maybe. But you’re human, fragile. Sooner or later you’ll be gone, and I...” I looked down at our hands, me and my wolf both feeling awfully small right then. “Reckon I don’t love you as much as I should to want to ask this. Bit selfish of me, knowing what it means.”

I heard Kyle’s quick breath, his heart rate jump, and the smell of his worry changed a bit.

“You want me to become a werewolf.”

I nodded, still not looking at him.

We were silent for a long moment before he spoke again.

“I kinda figured we’d have this conversation sooner or later.” He laughed humorlessly. “Have to admit, I expected you to be more of the ‘I can’t let you go through what I did’ type. Or maybe the ‘I won’t risk losing you any sooner than I have to.’ Either way, I figured I’d have a few more years, like maybe I’d get sick or my age would start catching up with me before we started talking about it.”

“I was trying awfully hard to  _ not _ think about it. My wolf just pointed it out to me the other day, and ...I ain’t been able to think of nothing else.”

He squeezed my hand again. “So are you asking to do this ... now, or just asking me to consider it for ... later when it matters?”

“The change isn’t as easy when you get older. Not that it’s ever easy, but folks seem to survive it better in their 20s and 30s. After that ... well, Bran figures once you’ve led a full life, you got less to fight for, less reason to pull through, easier to just let go. Or maybe you're just physically too weak and die before the change has a chance to take you.” Just facts, like breeding cattle, nothing that specifically and immediately applied to my lover.

Clearly.

“How long can I think about it?” He asked after another long silence. “And is it ok if I talk to Adam and ... maybe a couple others before I decide?”

I nodded. “Talk to whoever you want. I won’t ... I ain’t gonna force this on you. If you don’t want it, I’ll just keep you for as long as life gives us.”


	2. Chapter 2

“We should go camping this weekend,” Kyle declared one day after coming home and kissing me soundly.

For a moment, I just looked at him. “You hate camping.”

“I don’t  _ hate _ it. I just like my modern comforts.” He smirked at me; we both knew how true that was and how much it amused me.

“So then, are you offering to give them up for a couple of days just ‘cause you love your boyfriend?”

He gave me a mischievous grin. “Do I love you? Maybe I just think it’s sexy watching how well you get by without my modern comforts.” There was something else, a bit of hesitance or uncertainty carefully hidden beneath his flirting.

“Darlin’, I’m a werewolf.” I let my drawl come out thicker than it had ever been naturally. “Love might not have a smell, but I do know when your lyin’ through those shiny perfect teeth of yours.”

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying I don’t find you sexy?”

Never play with words with a lawyer. They always win. Or get you so twisted you forget what point you were trying to make in the first place. You’d think I’d learn my lesson.

“Darn lawyer.” I kissed him. It was the only safe answer. And it was a nice long while before I had enough coherent thought to tell him that, yes, I’d very much like to go camping that weekend.

* * *

Saturday night, we were sitting outside our tent watching the sun set over the mountains. The last couple days had been beautiful. Yes, I loved camping like Kyle said. But I also loved getting my mate away from technology, knowing there was no chance of a client calling in the middle of our weekend with some crisis that absolutely couldn’t wait until Monday.

Kyle took a deep breath. “I’ve made a decision. Two, actually, but...”

I waited a minute before prompting, “What decision?”

He shifted to look at me and took my hands. “I want to ask you something and I promise that what you say in answer will have no effect on what I tell you after. I’ve made both decisions. I just don’t want you to think they’re related or dependent on each other.”

I nodded. “What’s your question?”

He let go of one hand and reached into his jacket pocket for ... a small, black box that he opened to reveal a silvery-black ring. “Will you marry me?”

I stared at the ring.

My wolf stared at the ring.

We looked at him.

“What?” I managed.

“Will you marry me.”

I opened my mouth, but it took a few tries for words to come out. “You’re serious?”

“Yes, Warren. I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t mean it.”

“What happened to ‘marriage is signing a death sentence on a perfectly healthy relationship’?”

He looked down at our hands. “That’s what I see at work ... what my parents showed me. But ... then I met Honey and Peter. I saw Mercy and Adam work their relationship out. I became your mate. And then ...” he looked up at me again. “You asked me to spend the rest of your impossibly long life by your side, as your mate. But I can’t shake the feeling that you’re still waiting for me to run screaming.”

I opened my mouth to deny it, before dropping my eyes to our hands. “I don’t want to lose you. I ...” my voice was thick suddenly. “I love you. More’n I ever thought it was possible to love anything. I know that means sharing everything with you, and trusting. And I’m trying. It’s just hard still.”

“I know.” He balanced the ring box on his knee so he could cup my face with his hand. “Marriage is just a contract. People enter contracts for all kinds of reasons, and most of the time don’t actually break them. But even that doesn’t matter. My ability to keep a promise, to honor a contract isn’t dependent on what anyone around me does.

“I want to enter into a contract with you, that I will always love you, that I will stay by your side for the rest of our lives, that I won’t run screaming because you're a werewolf, and that you will trust me and do the same. If the rest of the world wants to call that a marriage, well, ... that’s just semantics.”

I smiled a little. Kyle wasn’t the type to talk himself into something he didn’t want to do, which meant he wanted this and was trying to justify that to himself.

“You know I don’t worry much about human laws, ‘cept to not get myself arrested. But I wouldn’t mind having a legal contract saying your mine and nobody else gets to touch you.”

He smiled, relaxing visibly. “Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”

We kissed. I would’ve liked it to be longer, but Kyle made a noise and pulled back.

He picked up the small box and took the ring out of it. “I know you can’t wear this all the time, but maybe sometimes at work or when I drag you to fancy parties...”

I cut him off with a peck on his lips. “I’ll wear it as often as I can.”

“Good.” He reached for my left hand and I watched him slide the ring on my finger. “It’s black tungsten. I didn’t think you’d appreciate gold.”

I shook my head. “It’s not the ring; it’s the promise.”

I kissed him, drawing it out, enjoying the moment, savoring the knowledge that he was  _ mine _ and wanted to be and would stay.

But ...

For how long?

I pulled back just enough to look at him. The last rays of sunlight reflected in his eyes, turn their normal brown to a glowing gold.

“You said you made two decisions.”

“Yes. I did. You asked me to become a werewolf. And my answer is yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do have ideas for the wedding, Kyle’s change, and little moments after. Let me know if your interested.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I think Warren might be more how Kyle suggested: too protective of his mate to risk losing him to the change. But my brain went ‘what if’ and this happened.  
> First fic. Please be gentle. Con-crit welcome.


End file.
